Sarah Palin, a media gadfly who seems to have found more things to be offended about on television than the Parents Television Council, seems to pop up every time there is a joke about her and her family.

(S21E13) You'll have to forgive me when I admit that I'm not familiar with all of the instances of the Simpson family history that have been presented over the years, as I've not caught all 453 episodes prior to this one. I also suspect that Lisa's journey across the attic featured costumes and memorabilia from across the past 20 years, which would have been a nice touch for that lackluster anniversary 450th episode that featured Krusty, for some reason. Bonus points to anyone who can recognize every artifact shown.

Speaking of Krusty, he showed up in the flashback installments of this nostalgic look back at the Simpsons in the era of slavery. It was but one of a few awkwardly forced historical cameos in what was otherwise a rather solid episode.

Plus, we learned where donuts originated from, and knowledge is power!

This week managed to be both boring and wonderful at the same time. In fact, 'American Dad' and 'The Cleveland Show' paralleled one another in this sense. Both had very strong lead stories featuring their respective fathers and sons, and both had rather dull back-up installments featuring the daughters.

What is it with Seth MacFarlane and female daughters? The fact that he can't find anything to do with Meg has become a running joke on 'Family Guy,' but he has the same problems with Hayley and Roberta.

Did you notice anything different about Roberta this week? Did she sound a little more like Sarah Chalke than Lecy Goranson (that's a 'Roseanne' joke for those paying attention)? That's because Nia Long, who's been the voice of Roberta thus far was replaced this episode by Reagan Gomez-Preston. I know, it's almost as shocking as when Darrin went from one Dick to another on 'Bewitched.'

(S01E07) In this kind of, sort of action-packed episode of 'Archer,' the screwed-up relationships between characters really picked up speed. Drama is always heightened when you're stuck with your ex and your unfaithful current beau in a ticking time bomb of a blimp -- er, rigid airship.

It will be interesting to see how much longer they can go on without addressing Cyril's affair with Cheryl/Carol/what's-her-face. The show is only set to run for ten episodes, so it's not unimaginable that they could leave the big reveal for the final episode. And we can assume it will be big because we all saw what Lana did even when Archer and Cyril were just training together.

Anyone who's listened to Ricky Gervais' podcasts or audiobooks knows that a) Karl Pilkington is an idiot and that b) Gervais and Stephen Merchant have made their fascination over Pilkington into gut-clutching comedy.

Why was the podcast so funny (and popular)? Because Pilkington just said stuff that was completely off-the-wall in such a straight-faced, matter-of-fact way, like when he talked about a time in history when "cavemen and dinosaurs were knocking about." These nonchalant statements made Gervais and Merchant -- especially Gervais -- convulse with laughter, which emphasized just how ridiculous Pilkington's statements really were.

So the challenge to Gervais and Merchant: How do you bring the twisted "genius" of Pilkington to television? Animation, of course! The result, 'The Ricky Gervais Show,' which premieres on HBO Friday at 9PM ET (you can register and watch the first full episode here), brings the podcast to life in a way that will satisfy both fans of the podcast and those who are hearing Ricky, Stephen and Karl for the first time.

Despite dealing with a cyborg Stan from the future, 'American Dad' gave us the strongest Valentine's outing of the night. The final image, albeit a little morbid, was genuinely sweet and emotionally satisfying for anyone seeing true and lasting love. For all his buffoonery, and there is a lot, Stan always comes through on the side of love in the end. Tonight's battle was with his own selfishness.

Stan proved it by taking himself to the Hershey park, and then eating Francine's promised breakfast-in-bed himself, and even agreeing to be turned into a cyborg in the future by the CIA, rather than spend eternity in a joint coffin with Francine. It took future Stan coming back, after 1000 years alone, and trying to steal Francine away from him, for Stan to realize that he did care about her.

(S01E06) This week's episode involved yet another super-spy mission and drugs and chocolate fountains, but the main focus was really the always-hot drama bubbling under the surface amongst the employees of ISIS.

So, Lana's off to take on another mission, this time with the extra-hairy arms dealer, Skorpio. Malory has also scampered away under some business-y business pretenses but she's really hanging out with her KGB lover, Nikolai, on his Chum Guzzler. That leaves Cyril and the rest of the ISIS crew to hang around in the office and not do work. Of course, office gossip ensues and we're left knowing a little too much about certain characters.

Way back when, Ricky Gervais did a hilarious podcast cleverly titled 'The Ricky Gervais Show.' Then suddenly, he stopped it and between that, New Coke and the cancellation of 'Hank,' the world found another reason to stop smiling.

(S01E05) Y'know the way you've been frantically scribbling in your diary for the past few years about how badly you want to see Thomas Lennon and Ron Perlman voice animated characters together? Yeah. I bet you thought you would keep writing forever. But 'Archer' sensed the secret wish in your tear-stained pages and made it a reality.

This episode wasn't quite as rapid-fire funny as some of the previous ones but it was still fantastic. It's clear that the writers are having a lot of fun with the characters, even the ones that pop up for only one mission.

(S01E04) Ah, yes. Yet another fine episode of Archer. This show has been steadily funny, which is good. I'm still waiting for it to do something outrageous and surprise us with a particularly extra-hilarious or an especially terrible episode, but I don't mind watching something that I can rely on for decent laughs, even if it doesn't leave me rolling on the floor.

(S01E03) Considering Archer's previous episodes, the title "Diversity Hire" should have allowed you plenty of time to prepare yourself for lots of groan-worthy racial jokes. And yeah, that was definitely what we got. Overall, it was a pretty solid episode; the thirty minutes really went by in a blur because those jokes came rapid-fire.

This week, the ISIS lost yet another non-white agent and needed to make a diversity hire to get some sweet tax action (or not get tax action, I guess). Enter, Conway Stern, a black Jewish agent who is so nice and efficient, it is borderline suspicious.

I can't imagine the amount of tireless work and toil that goes into a stop-animation show like Robot Chicken, but I can imagine the feeling of heaviness on the animators' shoulders when they realize they have a 40 episode order ahead of them. That's because as a young boy, John Goodman once fell on me.

When Ricky Gervais hosts the Golden Globes this Sunday (NBC, 8PM EST), don't expect any pre-taped pieces or large choreographed numbers. Gervais, speaking to the press on a conference call, said he is avoiding all of that. He has planned what he wants to do, but he won't rehearse it, alone or with anyone on the show.

"I want to host it a little bit more like someone from the Rat Pack would host it," he says. "You know, just off the cuff and just playing the room and having fun with the people and roasting a few of the A-listers and hopefully it'll be fun for the room and the people at home."

"I do want people to have the feeling that anything can happen," he adds. "I want to be reactive so I don't want to just go out there and read an alter cue and do a very staid joke and have that sort of polite sort of titter."

It turns out that blaming all of the world's ails on Jay Leno didn't just become America's favorite pastime last week. It has been a rich and beloved sport way back when he first took over The Tonight Show.

Here's a clip from the short-lived but beloved animated sitcom The Critic featuring a rip on Leno as critic Jay Sherman and his boy make a visit to Hollywood. USELESS TRIVIA ALERT! Leno's voice was provided by one of the show's writers, Judd Apatow, before he found success in mining humor from the folds of Seth Rogen's body fat.